Ethnic studies bills appear to be dead in Texas House, Senate

Two bills that could have affected ethnic studies classes, departments and professors appear to be dead in the Texas House and Senate.

And there appears to be little room for getting them onto the floors of either legislative body, especially the Texas House.

So, barring a midnight miracle, for all intents and purposes, state Sen. Dan Patrick’s SB 1128 and state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione’s House Bill 1938 appear to be dead. Both would have limited which history courses would count toward core credit for graduation at Texas public colleges and universities.

Ultimately, however, critics argued that the bills were intended to impact ethnic studies classes in a negative way.

We can’t say either bill was defeated. A better word might be expired.

On the House side, the Higher Education Committee heard HB 1938 on May 3 and voted 5-1, with three absences, to send it to the House’s General Calendars Committee.

That’s where bills get scheduled for votes on the House floor, said Capriglione’s legislative director Nick Watt.

As of today, however, HB 1938 isn’t scheduled to make that move, and the deadline is 12 a.m. May 10, he said.

On the Senate side, the companion SB 1128 has sat in the Senate Higher Education Committee, where it never got a hearing.

That means “It’s even more dead in the Senate,” said State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte’s communications director Lee Nichols.

While the Texas Senate doesn’t have hard deadlines like the Texas House does, “We tend to follow the House’s lead,” he said, with “unofficial deadlines that mirror theirs.”